Navin Sinha, J. - (1.) The appellant has been convicted under Section 302, I.P.C. and sentenced to life imprisonment on the charge of killing his own father.
(2.) The occurrence is stated to have taken place in the night of 01.12.2003. The police report was lodged next morning by PW-2 Ratanchand, another son of the deceased. The appellant was stated to be a wayward, addicted to alcohol, and nursed a grudge against his father with regard to his claim to a share in the lands of the deceased. There is no eye witness to the occurrence and the conviction is based on circumstantial evidence.
(3.) Pw-2 stated that while he was at the shop, the appellant came at about 9.00 p.m. and asked for a torch light which was given to him by the witness. The deceased had gone to the agricultural fields in the night and did not return till next morning. The appellant was also seen going towards the fields that night and did not return home. The police report was lodged by PW-2 the next morning. The appellant was absconding. He was ultimately arrested on 17.03.2004. On information furnished by the appellant, his blood stained clothes, confirmed in the FSL report Exhibit 41, were recovered from the Someshwar Milk Dairy belonging to his friend PW-6 Mahadeo Pailwan. PW-8, who owned the adjacent agricultural field, was declared hostile. Nonetheless his admission, elicited during cross-examination, being admissible in evidence, testified the presence of the appellant proximate in time to the incident. The witness had seen the appellant in the fields with an axe. The postmortem conducted by PW-3 Dr. S.M. Vaidya confirmed death due to cardio respiratory failure caused by obligenic and neurogenic shock due to multiple, deep incised wounds over the scalp, face and neck.;